Every Nova Studio engagement follows this structure. The steps exist because they prevent the problems that make design projects expensive — late structural changes, unclear handoffs, and misaligned expectations.
We align on goals, users, and scope before any design begins. A written brief is produced and agreed. The brief is the contract that every design decision is evaluated against. If a design decision does not serve a goal in the brief, it is not the right design decision.
We review any existing analytics, competitor landscape, and stakeholder documentation before the brief session. The session itself runs 1.5-3 hours depending on project complexity. Output: a written brief document, signed by both parties before work begins.
For Standard and Studio: user interviews, analytics review, insight synthesis. Sprint uses rapid heuristic review. Research produces insight documents, not raw data. Each insight is evidenced, prioritised, and tied to a specific design implication.
Standard research activities: moderated usability testing (3-5 sessions), analytics review, customer interview synthesis (3-6 interviews). Sprint heuristic review covers primary flows against Nielsen heuristics and task completion analysis.
User flows and wireframes. Architecture is decided here. Structure before style, always. The structure phase resolves every major navigation and interaction decision before high-fidelity design begins. Changes in this phase cost hours, not weeks.
Deliverables: user flow diagrams for all primary journeys, wireframes for all screens (desktop and mobile), annotated with interaction notes and content requirements. Sign-off required before visual design begins.
High-fidelity screens built from wireframes. Component-by-component, then full screens, then breakpoints. Visual design decisions are made on structural grounds established in wireframes, not aesthetic instinct.
Component library built first: colour tokens, typography, spacing, all interactive states. Full screens follow. All breakpoints covered. Accessibility (colour contrast, touch targets, focus states) addressed in the design, not in development.
Interactive prototype. Usability testing where scope allows. Issues found here cost less than issues found after build. Every iteration of the product has been evaluated by real users before build begins on Standard and Studio projects.
Figma interactive prototype covering all primary flows. For Standard and Studio: structured usability testing with 3-5 participants. Testing report with prioritised findings. Critical issues addressed before handoff.
Annotated Figma, asset exports, design spec, and a developer walkthrough. Developers build without guessing. The handoff is the deliverable — it exists to make development fast, accurate, and without back-and-forth.
Figma source file with complete design specification. SVG icon exports. PNG asset exports. CSS/JSON design token exports. PDF specification reference. A developer walkthrough session (video call) walking through all components and interactions.
Step one. The rest follows.